pugs-are-great

Hi again, I decided to give my baby another go on cortisone. The vet didn't seem to think it would be a problem. Anyway, it took a couple of days for the tablets to start working, but she is starting to follow us around the house rather than just lie on her rug all day. Her tail is sitting much higher over her back and she is wagging it quite vigorously at times. When we have dinner in the evening, she has started sitting right beside us with an alert look on her face. Prior to going back on cortisone, she couldn't care less about sitting under the dining table. Considering how greedy pugs are, this was very abnormal behaviour. It's funny how the little things give you so much hope. When she started hanging around the dining table again, I knew she was feeling better. It has been very stressful with all the ups and downs, but I have decided that I will continue with cortisone because she feels a lot better. I have spent so many nights considering the possibility that she may have to be PTS, but she really seems very good at the moment and I have always felt that she deserves the right to be an old dog who lays about the house. God knows she worked her butt off for many years pushing out pups for greedy backyard breeders! Just as a bit of background, this is my 2nd pug. I had a male pug as a child and he also had multiple health problems. Horatio died of cancer at just 7 years of age. I want to make sure that my current pug is given every opportunity to get better. Anyway, I have appreciated everyone's interest, so I thought I should post an update.

Thanks everyone. I want to reply to some of your questions. The main problem seemed to be the immune response immediately after the patella operation. Her ears even scabbed over completely - I have never seen anything like it. One of the vets at the clinic eventually diagnosed it correctly, but this was a few weeks down the track. She also developed pnuemonia. I was eventually forced to take her to another vet as the first vet clinic were at a loss as to how to treat her. Before the patella op, she was a complete little nutter - running around at 100 miles per hour, tail never stopped wagging and she was quite a talker! She behaved like a puppy! Since the op - the complete opposite, even her hair does not shed anymore! I actually thought she was going to die in the car on the way to the vet a few weeks ago as her breathing was so laboured that she was just gasping for air. They precribed cortisone and antibiotics and the improvement was immense. However it has been up and down ever since. It has now been about 3 months since her patella op. Today I am trying aspirin as it has been suggested to me that it will help with any pain. I cannot have her on any more cortisone, even though that seems to be a magic bullet! She was on cortisone for about 6 weeks. I would be happy to have her just live out her life as an old dog lying around the house - God knows she deserves it! This dog has meant nothing to her previous owners and you couldn't blame her if she hated humans, but she just adores everyone. She lost one of her eyes due to the neglect of the f#@king backyard breeders, but I think it makes her look really special. I have to say that I have lost faith in vets. Only one vet seemed to really care. I think they look at her as a problematic dog with a problematic history. Even so, she still wags her tail at them - every single time! pugs-are-great

I should add that all this came about after having her luxating patella done. She had an immune response that had her near death.

Hi everyone. Some of you may remember that I posted a few weeks ago re my very sick pug. After much veterinary care, she now is only able to lay down and occasionally will get up to move rooms or to eat. She is breathing properly and looks OK, but her quality of life is terrible as she cannot go for walks and is exhausted all the time. She walks on all 4 legs, but is extremely slow and almost looks as though she has had a stroke, although the vets tell me this is not the case. She is no longer on any medication (she was on antibiotics and cortisone). The cortisone definitely made her more sprightly, but she was on it for many weeks and had to come off it eventually.She is 10 years old. Her main symptoms now are arching of the back as if she has back pain. She raises her tail to about 1/2 mast and seems to have difficulty raising her head to normal height. She has had a long sad history (ex back yard breeder's dog, so she came to us with many problems already), but the last 3 years that she has been with us, she has been spoiled rotten. This dog means everything to me, but I have to be realistic now and am considering her feelings over mine and my families. Do DOGers think that it is now more humane to have her PTS? I am dreading making this decision as I know I will not cope. If I do have to have her PTS, what is the best way of going about it? I don't think I could be in the room although I would like her to know that I adored her! I would also like to know if her problems sound like they can be corrected. It is the lethargy and the stilted walking that bothers me most. If I thought she was in no pain and was happy, I would gladly let her just while away her days lying on her rug. Are there products on the market that would give her some energy. I know this will sound terrible, but we have spent thousands of dollars on her and financially we simply can't afford more veterinary care. Any advice? pugs-are-great